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Unread 29-05-2009, 13:24
Rich Kressly's Avatar
Rich Kressly Rich Kressly is offline
Robot/STEM troublemaker since 2001
no team (Formerly 103 & 1712. Now run U.P. Robotics (other programs))
Team Role: Mentor
 
Join Date: Oct 2001
Rookie Year: 2001
Location: Pennsburg, PA
Posts: 2,045
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Re: Leadership Course at Lower Merion

Tied into, sure, but emphasized?

Also know that our school and community is one that is full of resources and incredible opportunities (I'm pretty sure that by all metrics our school district is in the top 20 in the nation in per-pupil spending), but it's also unfortunately a culture where political power and influence of the individual all too often wins out over what's best for the community, group, or school as a whole. The result is a school where a lot of wonderfully bright students sometimes tend to believe that obtaining as many titles as possible (leadership-type titles) for their resume/transcript is far more important than "service" and working for the good of the group.

This year my colleague and I ran "leadership training" for our Tech & Engineering Club's leaders (TSA officers and Dawgma captains) about once a month. It became very interesting to us how much these students were starving for this type of information, including some students who weren't in the club asking if they could be part of it once they learned what was going on.

Every community is different and each one has its local strengths and weaknesses. We've begun something special in our community through our team and club growing the FIRST ethos and this type of emphasis happens to be a next logical step for us.

So Sylvia, who was a part of those trainings, decided she wanted to do something more far reaching with what she was getting out of those sessions as her senior project. Thus, the title, "Ethics-Based Leadership."

Perhaps your community situation is different and this emphasis isn't as great a need.
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technology, innovation, and invention without a social conscience will only allow us to destroy ourselves in more creative ways

Last edited by Rich Kressly : 29-05-2009 at 13:28.